Method of producing face clutches



Nov. 136, 1943. E. WlL DHABER 2,334,366

METHOD OF PRODUCING FA'CE CLUTGHES Filed Obt. 10, 1942 2 Sheetsl-Sheet l V Ihwcntor ERNEST W/LDHHBER Nov. 16, 1943. E. WILDHABER 2,334,366

' METHOD'OF PRODUCING FACE CLUTCHES Filed 001:. 10, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 j a 1 I 3nventor ERA/E5 T W/LDHH 55R homey;

tion', a face mill iciitte clutcjh member will then n iciit tq ave;

Patented Nov. 16, 1943 Ern est wi lclhab'er, Brighton, *N. 'Y., assignor to GleasoflWorks; Rochester, Y., a corporation a of New York 1 urin tion Dctober 10, 1942., s rial No; 461,589.

, l io claim tially all of the cutting willlbe done with lone side and the tip cutting leilfis of the blades and the other siclesof the lblade'sjwilldo little or no cutting whatsoever. Y f

To these ends, it is a iurtherpurposeiof the invention to provide .a process forclitting toothed face clutches by which oppositesides of spaced teeth of a clutch member may ,be .cut simultaneor all inside cutting-blade Otherobjects was inter; nwilifbe apparent 'hereinafterifrom tHe Ls ezfifipatiohL am; iromj ithe recital of the;.appende lj31 95 1 18-v i i t In cutting the tootlns'lijffacesibfea 'face Clutch member by'the process offthe present invenpreferably mpioyea which his I'jof largegenollghidiameter and'wh is so positioned as to generate simnltaneously on two 'spa'cedftooth' zones of the blank andgcut simultaneously obpo'sitesideslof two spaced-teeth of theblank. "Both :sides' iofeacht tooth .of ea lengthwise tooth curvature, .eith 1y convex or longitudinally. eon

ter is, rotated in engagemerit witii thei'cllumh 2V0 ously with a .face mill cutte "having all outside .p oyed in th proces of t e a Pr sent invention Which has a l inside or alloiitsisi cutt n b ade One member ci ia lutchpairmay be out with a cutter whiehjhas all outside cutting blades and v both sides or'its .teethllo i itudinally i on- .caveandthe other member vof? the clut hpa r maybe out with a nutte ha in all in ideblasles and "have {both n de of it teeth o e t ainally onvex; o :both mem er ma he ut "w th flrshaving al 1 ns de. 'bladfia. so tha DOLL; me

H v j l ngi ud nal y co vex t th s rfaces. v v V "TBS" usin .cutters with al insi e o a "p tside"b ades,t ;e num e of id. -.o u g e e wh c m y be Providediin ai t e of a given diameter for s itting "itheysides :of

"theteeth of a clutch memberj of the icharacter described maybe doubledga's ;compared with the number of finish side-cutting edges-provided in the conventional type of cutter heretofore employecl for cuttingsuch clutch members. .Such

conventional cutters have had to have alternate inside and. outsideruttingblades because-heretofore the cutters wer e'lfed' axially into the Worl "to "01113 the "tooth suriaces to the desired *depth. Thecuttershad to have both inside and "Outv side blades in order toremov e stock from a solid b1ank,even"though'the actual finished sides *oftheblu-tch teeth ,W 1 d'befinishe'd by the sides of blades at one side of the cutter only. a By' themet-hod of the*presentiinvention;then,

production is speegledvup, Moreover; the sha-rpening of cutters is made moreconvenient since blank while .the' rbla'nklis heldistationary stand whilea relative cdebthwise flffeed movementgis effected between thecutter and-blank; inla girection inclined to .boththe 0111313612 and blank axes until the opposite nsidesioff ,twoigspaced teeth vof the blank have been out to f nll depth.

Then the cutter i fiavithdrawri i oh ngaseme with .theblanli, and jtheiblank lind .XQIL- llhen the'cutter ,is fed back- 1 the blank tovcutijtl' e next 'pair of tooth surfaces,}ancl thus the operation proceeds'suntil allof the'teeth of :the blank havebeencut. r L 5 Because the. depthwise feed ism-a. direction inclined to the cutter axis, t 31 surfaces of theblank may Jce' cut enti f-ibygt'he ti p and. one sidegoi the'blaglespfthe cntter. The other sides of the cutterI blades need notdo a1l-- of-the blades man-be sharpened alike and.

v "in one setup. -Some ='saving; too, cutter cost -canbe achieved since allot the blades *of agiven eutter oan -be-maele -alike.'-

ln the drawingsz r 1 i Fig. -1 is :a sectionalwiew=ofg=a=pair of-engaging toothed c1utchmembers-made according-to one embodiment of: this invention, the section being stakendn a mean plane,i%her-einafiterwreferred to 53.5 :the pitch plane, which. is' perpendicular f to .theelutchaxis; o

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary e1evational-view-of .theiengag ngcclutohxmembers; V

Fig. 3 153a somewhat diagrammatic view taken pin z t-he "pitch plane :of tone tof the eclutch' :mem-

, iurhher:

one -rnetllod of euttingza :clutchimemberiihaving fi de -tnptnsurf aces of positirezpressure;angle =accor ingztoathevpresentainvention; J -his tainartaellevational;martsectipnal view illustrating .rthetmethod :of; cutting :(this anyciitting. as a resultga cutterimay be enim5 QhlWh vm mber;

Figs. and 6 are views similar to Figs. 3 and 4,

V respectively, and illustrating the process of cutbeing a sectiornori'- the line l! of Fig. 8 but showing in dash lines also a plan view of the cutter blade;

Fig. 9 is a part elevationahpart sectional View illustrating the cutting of a c'lutcl'i'mem of zero pressure angle according to afurtherembodiment of this inventiong-and:

Figs. 10 and 11 are sectional views, the method of cutting mating zero pressure angle clutch members, respectively, accor'ding'to' 'a' still" further modification of the invention. t

. In Figs. landZ, and 2i denote, respectively, two engaging clutch members which may be cut by. thep'roce'ss' of the present invention." The memberza has teeth 22 Whose opposite sides 23 and 24 are of longitudinally convex shape. The member 2i has'teethZB'whose opposite sides 21 and 28are longitudinally concave. Thesidesjof the teethof bothmembers are of positive pres; sure angle. as clearly'is'h ownl in Fig. 2, that is, the profiles of the teeth of both clutch members are positively inclined to the clutch. axis 29.' the instance shown, opposite'si'de's of spaced teeth of each clutch member lie. in the same conicalsur face. Thus, the opposite tooth sides 23 and 24, for instancego'f. the clutch member 20 (Fig. 3) lie ma common conical surface 30 whose axis is. at tlfparallel to the ,axis29 offthe 'clutchmember. Likewise, the opposite'toothsides of the, clutch member 2!, as for instance, the sides 2 1" and 28', (Fig.i5).,lie a common conical surface 32' whose axis is at 33 parallel .to' the axis 29 of the clutch member. 1 '11 Y 4 I, a "Because of its construction, opposite sidesof P d-fifih; t dut h m mbe 'LI SL QI instance the sides' 23 and24', can becutsimultaneously by a face inill cutter 3 5 whose-blades36 have I inside cuttingf dgesi 31 of straight prfcfi e su fa s 1 I the ut er is. ai bai s. is-

- t in ds s i s ades-3 9i h in any; plane perpendicular to "t as d le lith iw te i a t e s m ra a distance. m he. M 53 zt e cut er asthe r d u f th ,s n lsl tf q 3 in that anc- The cutter must then'also be so positioned that it a onfi s w th he ax 3L of conica u ac withltheaxis 3,3.

In the cutting :thel-itooth sides of the clutch .member 21!, the cutter 3.5 is rotated on its axis 33 whileha-relative .depthwise .feed movement. is efiectedlbetween the cutter andclutch in a straight: line direction .45 (Figmi). which is inclined bothto the'axis 38 of the cutter and the axis 29 of the work." i-Theblank remains'stationary on its-axis during this feed- 'movernent and when apairoftooth surfaces have'been cut -to full depth, the cutter is withdrawn -from'engageillustrating ment with the blank, and the blank indexed. Then the feed movement begins anew.

Similarly, in the cutting of tooth surfaces of the clutch member 2 l, the cutter 40 is rotated on its axis 43 while a relative'depthwise feed movement is eifected between the cutter and Work piece in a straight line direction 46 which is inclinedbo-th to the axis 43 of the cutter and the axis 29 of the work piece; Again, the work-piece is held stationary during cutting and again, when a pair of tooth surfaces have been cut to full depth, the cutter is withdrawn from engagement with the work piece and the work is indexedin the case-showmthe outside edges 39 of the cutter, 3a are of positive pressure angle. By

proper. choice of ';the direction 45 of depthwise feed, however, as by inclining the direction 45 of a feed to the axis 38 of the cutter at an angle equal tha w llidsbube i ir c v x ri teeth 7 v to or greater than the pressure angle of the out- 7 side edges 39 of the blades, cutting with the outs'ideiedges of the blades can be completely avoided. As. the cutter 35 is fed into depth, then, even though it be cutting from the solid, its blades 3b 'willcut with their top cutting edges 41 and their insidecutting edges 31 only,and'the outsideedg es 33 ofthe blade Will not do any cutting. i

' In a similar manner, by suitably selecting the direction 46 of depthwise feed in the cutting of the clutch member 2|, cutting. with the inside edges-5810f the blades of the cutter 40 can be avoided. In the cutter 40 shown; the inside edges of the blades'jare' of zero pressure angle, that'is,

parallel tothe axis43 of the cutter. Hence, when thecuttjeris fed relatively into the blank alonga line 46 inclined positively to the axis 43 of the cutter, the inside edges 48 of the blade will do no cutting'or rubbingyand the whole of the cutting cf the tooth spaces even from the solid will be done by the top cutting edges 49 and the outside cutting edges 42 of the blades. I 7

Because the outside edges of the blades of the V .Qutter 35 need dOhocutting, it is unnecessary to provide cuttinsBdQesohgboth the outside'and inside surfaces"of .thesefblades, but all of the I blades of this cutter maybe "sharpened to have inside cutting edges only. ,Likewise, since cuti'tingis avoided on theinside edges of the blades :Qf. .the icl1t tef40 in theffcutting of the clutch member :21, .it is unnecessary to provide keen. cutting"edges on the inside of thebl'adesc'f this cutter, and; all of the blades of this cutter, may

{be sharpened to have'outside cutting edges only; Thusgfthe" cutter for cutting the clutch member 20 maybe provided with all inside cutting edges,

and "the? cutter for cutting the clutch member :2l may be provided with all'outside cutting edges. This is'in,contrast'with the conventional ,type- I of face mill cutters required I heretofore'for, cutting clutch members such as the clutch members :20 and 2|'. ""'The conventional typ of' cutters have had to be provided with "both inside and.

outside cutting edgesbecause the feed motion wasin the direction of the axis of the cutter. f To secure'most efiicient cutting, the" blades of cutters used; in'the method of the. presentinvention are preferably sharpened to have'both isideand front rake. A' typical blade of V the cutter 35, which cuts the convex sides .ofthe teeth of the clutch member 20, is' shown in Figs. 7 and 8. This is: an inside, cutting blade; The cutting po'rtionp f the blade has an inside surface 50, a'n outside surface 5l,.a "front face '52, and a top 'land 5 iThe front iface 52 of the blade i inclined at an acute angle to the inside "surface so ofthe blade and the front' 'face 52 to a line 54 drawn'radially'of the cutter axis.

The front rake causes the topmostportion of cutting to. be done entirelyby the inside cuttin edges 85 and tip cutting edges 89, thus making it possible to employ a cutter which has all inside cutting blades.

The mating clutch member Blis cut with a fac mill cutter 93 whose blades 94 have outside cutting edges 95 of positivepressure angle, that is, positively inclined .to the .axis 96 of.the"cut- 'ter. For cuttingthe tooth surfacesof the clutch the cutting edge3l to come into operation first.

The outside surfaces 5| of the blades are relieved, even though the outside edges te' do no cuttin-g. This relief is provided in order that the cutting portions of the blades may retain their shape after sharpening. The non-cutting inside edges 48 of the blades M of the cutter M1, however, are of zero pressure angle and,

therefore, need no relief. The insidesurfaces of these blades may be ground simplyas a cylindrical'surface concentric with the cutter axis 43. The outside and tip surfaces of the blades 4! are, however, relieved for cutting clearance.

Fig. 9 illustrates one method of cutting :according to the present invention a clutch memberfifl whose teeth til have side surfaces -62-and 63 of 'zero pressure angle, that is, a clutch member whose tooth sides have profiles parallel to th axis 64 of the clutch member. In the instance shown it is assumed that the clutch mem ber 60 has longitudinally concave side tooth surfaces. Here a face mill cutter 65 may be employed whose blades 66 have outside finish-cutting edges 61 that are of zero pressure angle, that is, parallel to the axis 69 of the cutter.

the axisfi l of the'clutch member and is rotated on its axis in engagement with the Work while being simultaneously fed in astraight line direction ll] inclined to both the axis of the cutter and the axis of the work, to cut the tooth surfaces of the work to full depth. Then,' as

before, the cutter ,is' withdrawn from engagement with. the. Work and the work is indexed. Due to .the inclined feed, the cutting of the tooth surfaces of the work is done'with thetop-cutting edges 68 and outside cutting edges B'Lof the blades, while the inside edges 'Hofthe blades will .do-no cutting. Thus, as before, the'cutter may lee-provided with blades which cut all onthe same side of the tooth'slot.

Figs. and 11 show the cuttingof a pair of mating zero pressure angle clutch imembers according to a further modification of the invention. The two clutch members are denoted at 8B and BI, respectively, and their axis is desig-- nated at 82. The clutch member 80, whose teeth ,85 of the. cutter at mean points inthe length of the tooth surfaces being cut Wi11 be parallel to the axisBZ of the clutch member. The tooth surfaces are cut, as before, by feeding the rotate ing cutter in a direction 81 which is inclined lbothto the axis 86 of thecutter and the axis 82 of thework but at a different angle to the cutter axis than to. the work Iaxis. .ThefeedJdirection is such as to relieve the .outside edges 89 -of; the cutting blades of ,anycutting and cause The cutter'is positioned with its axis'69 parallel to the tips of the blades. of feed is inclined to the'cutter axis at an angle equal to or greater than the pressure angle of .the'non-cutting sides of the blades. embodiment of the;invention,'however, cutters =having alternate inside and outsidezblades are :employed according to prior conventional .pr cinember 8!, the cutter 93 is tilted inwardlywith reference -t0 the workpiece so that the surface constituted by the outside cutting edges 95 of the cutter is parallel to the axis 82 of the work pieceat mean points in the length. of the tooth surfaces to be out. A relative .depthwise feed movement is then effected between the rotating cutter and the work in a direction 91 which is inclined both to the axis 96 of the cutter and the axis 82'of the -work but at different angle to the cutter axis than to the work axis. The direction of feed is so selected that the cutting of the tooth spaces of the work is donewholly .by the outside cutting edges 95 and top' cutting edges 99 of the cutter and cutting with the inside edges 98 is completely avoided. Thus the cutter 93 can be provided with all outside cutting blades. 7

Due to theinclination of the axis 86 of the cutter'tothe pitch line 98 ofthe work in the cutting of the clutch mernber 80,the root sur the root lines we: of the tooth. spaces of the clutch member 8| will be inclined to the pitch line of the clutch member and the tooth spaces of-this clutch member will be deeper at their outer than at their imier ends if the top surface I62 of the clutch member is a plane surface perpendicular to the clutch axis- 82. If a cutter 93 is tilted inwardly with reference to the clutch blank 81 however, at thesame angleas the cutter '83 is tilted'outwarclly with reference to the clutch i blank 80, then the teeth and tooth spaces of the two clutch members will be. complementary to one another.

:If itis desired to have full lengthwise contact between the tooth surfaces of mating clutch members out according to the present invention, the outside cutting surface, of the face mill cutter employed to cut one clutch memberwill be made of the same diameteras the inside cutting; surfaceof the cutter employed to cut. the other clutch member.

Localization of lengthwise tooth bearing canbe obtained by making the cutter which cuts the longitudinallyconvex tooth surfaces of one clutch member smaller in diameter than the cutter which cuts the. longitudinally concave tooth surfaces .of the other clutch member, or: both .clutch members may .be out with longitudinally convex tooth surfaces.

In all of the above described embodiments of the invention, the direction of feed is so selected that all of the cutting is done by one side and In each case the direction In another tice, but a depthwise feed movement' in a direction inclined to clutch and cutter axes is again employed as in the previously described embo-diiments of the present invention." The inclined feed is here provided for the purposeof saving the finishing edges at one' side of the cutter by throwing the main burden of cutting during feed to the opposite side edges and. tip edges, of; the cutter. Thisembodiment of the invention is used especially for cutting clutches of heavy tooth pitch. The feed is in a direction opp sitely inclined'to the cutter axis from that usedin the previously described embodiments of theinvention; for instance, in Fig. ,4 it would be. along dotted line 45. It. should be noted that the feed motion, as in any embodimentof thefiinvention, maybe imparted either to. the cutter or to the work. V l In all of the above described embodiments of the invention; the cutter isprovided withstraight side-cutting edges. The invention is not restricted, however, to use with such cutters but may be applied as'well where cutters having cutting edges of curved profile are used, as, for instance, spherical cutters.

In general it maybe said that while several different embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be understood that the invention is capable of further modification and this application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general, theprinciples of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which the invention pertains and as may be appliedto the essential features hereinbeforeset forth and as fall within the scope of the invention or the limits of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. The method of cutting side surfaces'of the teeth of atoothed face clutch member which comprises imparting an arcuate movement to a cutting tool to move the tool in a longitudinally curved path across the face of'a work-piece while effecting a relative depthwise feed movement betweenthe tool and work in a direction inclined both to the axis of the work and to the axis about which the arcuate movement of the tool takes place.

2. The method of cutting side surfaces of the teeth of a toothed fac clutch member which comprises positioning a face mill cutter in engag'ement with a work piece so that it may cut simultaneously opposite sides of two spaced teeth I of the work-piece, and rotating said cutter on its axis while effecting a relative depthwise feed movement between the cutter. and work-piece in a direction inclined to the axes of both the cutter and the workto cut the tooth surfaces to full depth. a

3. The method of: cutting side surfaces of the teeth of a toothed face clutch member which comprises employing a face mill cutter that has all of its blades sharpended to out at the same side, positioning said cutter in engagement with a work-piece so that it may cut simultaneously opposite sides of two spaced teeth of the workpiece,and rotating the cutter on its axis While effecting a relative depthwise feed movement between the'cutter and work-piece in a direction inclined to the axes of both the cutter and work to cut the tooth surfaces of. the work to full depth.

4. The method'of'cutting side surfaces of the teeth of a toothed face clutch'member whichi comprises employing a face mill cutter that has all of its blades sharpened to cut at the same side,

positioning said cutter in engagement with a work-piece with its axis parallel to the axis of the work-piece so that it may cut simultaneously opposite sides of two spaced teeth of the workpiece, and rotating said cutter on its axis while effecting a relative depthwise feed movement between the cutter and work-piece in a direction in- .clined to the axes of both the cutter and'work- .piece to cut the tooth surfaces of the work-piece to full depth.

.5. .The method of cutting side surfaces of the teeth of a toothed face clutch member which comprises employing a face mill cutter that'has sidecutting edges of positive pressure angle and all lying at the same side of the cutter, positioning the cutter in engagement with the work-piece'so that its axis is parallelto the axis of the workpiece and so that it may cut simultaneously opposite sides of two spaced teeth of the work-piece, and rotating the cutter on its axis while effecting a relative depthwise feed movement between the cutter and work-piece in a direction inclined to theaxes of both the cutter and the work-piece so as to cut the toothsurfaces to full depth with said side-cutting edges and the top cutting edges of the cutter only.

6. The'method of cutting side surfaces of the teeth of a toothed face clutch member which comprises employing a, face mill cutter that has side-cutting edges ofzero pressure angle and all lying at theisame side of the cutter, positioning said cutter in engagement with a work-piece so that its axis is parallel to the axis of the Workpiece and so that it may cut simultaneously. opposite sides of two spaced teeth of the work-piece.

and rotating said cutter on its axis while effecting a relative depthwise feed movement betweenthe cutter and work-piece in a direction inclined to the axes of both the cutter and work-piece so as to cut the tooth surfaces to full depth with said side-cutting edges and the top-cutting edges'only.

' 7; The method of cutting sidesurfaces of the that it mayv cut simultaneously opposite sid'es of two spaced teeth of. the work-piece and so that its axis is inclinedto the axis of the work-piece to cut tooth surfaces of zero pressure angle on the work, and rotating said cutter on its axis :while effecting a relative depthwise feed movement between the cutter and Work in a direction inclinedt o the axes of both the cutter and Work to cut the tooth surfaces to full depth with said side-cutting edges and the top cutting edges of the cutter only.

8. The method of cutting a pair of toothed face clutch members which comprises cutting one member with a face mill cutter that has all'inside finish cutting edges of'positive pressure angle and cutting theother member' with a face mill cutter that has all outside finish cutting edges of positive pressure angle, by positioning each' cutter relative to the Work-piece to be cut thereby so that the cutter will operate simultaneously on opposite sides of two spaced teeth of the workpiece and the finish side-cutting edges of the cutter will be inclined to the Work axis at'an angle to cut tooth surfaces of zero pressure angle on the work, and rotating said cutter on its axis while effecting a relative.depthwise feed movement between the cutter and work in a direction inclined to the axes of both the cutter and the work but differently inclined to each.

9. The method of cutting teeth in face clutches which comprises positioning a face-mill cutter and a Work-piece in engagement With the axes of cutter and work-piece inthe same plane, and

- rotating the cutter on its axis While effecting a relative depthwise feed motion between cutter and work-piece in a direction inclined to the axes of both, and periodically withdrawing the cutter from engagement with the work-piece, and indexing the work-piece 1 at the opposite side of the cutter.

ERNEST WILDHABER. 

